


Mechanical Eyes

by SpicySnowflake



Series: Spicy's Whumptober 2020 [7]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Enemy to Caretaker, M/M, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, obsessive tendencies, some gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:13:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26882710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpicySnowflake/pseuds/SpicySnowflake
Summary: Keef had always been someone who felt very deeply for things, and for other people. Zim happened to be the one person he'd felt the strongest for.
Relationships: Keef & Zim (Invader Zim), Keef/Zim (Invader Zim)
Series: Spicy's Whumptober 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948723
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Mechanical Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Day 7 of Whumptober! Officially a whole week! 
> 
> This fic can be seen as either a friendship or a romance, its really up to interpretation ^^

Keef’s eyes zeroed in on the PAK lying helplessly on the floor and rushed towards it. There was only one thing on his mind: get that PAK no matter what the cost. His eyes mechanically took note of everything that was in his way; the debris, the enemies, the giant monster that was currently flailing and destroying everything its limbs could touch - and he skillfully avoided all of them. He ducked, and he dodged, and he jumped, and he pushed, and he fought, and he ran. 

It was the advantage of having mechanical eyes. It not only gave him better vision with a wider visual range, it also gave him a much better spatial awareness. Becoming so much more in tune with his surroundings, Keef was able to calculate all the movements happening around him and not only react to them, but calculate his own movements as well. 

There were downsides to it too, however. His heightened vision and awareness made it impossible to ignore Zim lying on the floor, nor could he ignore the bright pink blood surrounding him. He couldn’t not notice the way Zim twitched so pathetically either. Even as Keef maneuvered out of his obstacles, and got closer and closer to the PAK, he still couldn’t help but notice every small movement Zim made, couldn’t help but notice how hurt he was and how much worse he was becoming every second–

Finally, Keef reached the PAK and, in one fell swoop, it was in his arms and he was sprinting. He clutched the PAK tightly to his chest, feeling the cold, hard metal as he ran as fast as his legs could take him.

Zim was already lying face down, so Keef didn’t have to move him to attach the PAK to his back. Thankfully, the PAK immediately latched on. Unfortunately however, Zim was still badly injured, and with the PAK having been disconnected from him for so long, it wasn’t healing him as it should have. Even worse, they were still in the midst of danger. Without a moment’s hesitation, Keef scooped him up and ran away, as fast as he could, with energy he didn’t even realize he still had. 

\-----

Keef sat in front of the bed. He had patched Zim up the best he could, and with the adrenaline having long worn off, he was exhausted. His body wanted to crash, but he was still too worried about Zim to even try to take a nap. He needed to make sure Zim would wake up. 

Internally, he chuckled in wry amusement. It was ridiculous, how things ended up with the short man lying in front of him. How his emotions for the alien he once naïvely called his bestest friend had drastically changed over the years Keef had known him.

At 10 years old, and very lonely despite his cheerful disposition, he had latched onto Zim when he first approached him. Only for that to result in the most painful and confusing and horrifying time of his young life. It wasn’t even the physical pain of getting his eyeballs ripped out that made the experience so horrible. Whatever it was that was in those mechanical eyes - Keef suspected it was some sort of drug - it instantly made the pain disappear as soon as it was attached to his skull. It made him not only see a squirrel as Zim, but it also made him unable to think logically. It was like he took a powerful hallucinogen; a very controlled and specific hallucinogen but one nonetheless. He ended up spending two years locked up in the Crazy House, getting “medicine” shoved down his throat, and surrounded by people who considered his words as nothing more than insane ramblings; even long after the hallucinating effects of the mechanical eyeballs had worn off, and constantly being treated like he was less than human. 

After he was finally let out, he had grown to have a deep and burning hatred for Zim. He thought of so many ways to get back at him, and even acted upon those thoughts a couple times. With the mechanical eyes that Zim “gifted” him with, he could accomplish so much more than he previously would have thought possible for him. He considered it ironic, or perhaps Zim’s karma, that the eyes the alien forced upon him would be the very thing that allowed Keef to get back at Zim, to make Zim hurt just like he did. 

Keef didn’t really know when that anger and hatred began to fade, but he figured it was around the same time he had begun to simply enjoy his mechanical eyes and all the advantages that came with having it. When he had begun to use it for himself, rather than just for revenge, he began to see that, even if Zim hadn’t intended for it to be that way, it really was quite a nice gift. 

He began to think back to when it happened, and without all the anger clouding his judgement, he had to admit that Zim had a reason to want to get rid of him. He realized how creepy he acted, and felt so shameful. It didn’t make Zim’s actions any less wrong, and Keef still didn’t forgive him for that, but he did acknowledge that Zim was an alien who wouldn’t have seen things the way other humans would have. So he decided to look past it. 

Somehow, he became closer to Zim again and formed a true friendship with him. One that was mutual and didn’t become obsessive on anyone’s end. At least, not to the point of being creepy. He made sure that Zim didn’t find him creepy anymore anyways. 

He was aware and had come to accept that he was just someone who felt very deeply for things, and for other people. Zim just so happened to be the one person who he’d always felt the strongest for. Whether that emotion be negative or positive. Keef had felt both for him, but he always did prefer to see the good things. 

It didn’t even matter that there was a time that Keef wanted to hurt Zim, because now Keef would do anything for him. Even if it meant running straight into danger.


End file.
